


The Timeless

by Lunatic3425



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Other, Time Travel, double identity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-05-05 01:25:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5355761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunatic3425/pseuds/Lunatic3425
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asher Currant lives in the year 1880 and Ava Bay lives in the mid-21st century in the technological-space era. They are both different people in different times, but the same soul whose named themselves Phoenix. Phoenix lives the life of Asher in the past and alternates to live as Ava, their consciousness slips between the two at about every second hour. Asher's actions strangely don't change the future or cause paradoxes, and Ava can't find her past self as Asher. Asher and Ava have lived together and are sixteen years old, but still struggle to understand their abnormality as time travelers or at the possibility that they're crazy insane. In the past, Asher/Phoenix comes into contact with a secret society called The Timeless, a group of anonymous strangers who he's not sure to trust, as they claim to be like him. In the future, Ava lives in a colonization on Mars, and thinks her life as an outcasted teenager is unbearable until she is caught up in the middle of the police's serial killer case. Can Phoenix trust a group of suspicious strangers who might relate to Phoenix's abilities? And can she be able to help solve a murder mystery that only she might have answers for?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Seeing as Double

The Timeless  
Ch. 1 - Prologue - Seeing as Double

Remember every movie about time travel? Usually it involves some mysterious, high-tech machine with the protagonists causing some ridiculous, complicated mistake and causing some kind of paradox.

I’ve yet to cause a paradox as far as I know, I don’t even think both of my lives are part of the same time stream. I could never find my past self in the future, so I sometimes wonder if that part of me actually exists when I’m Ava Bay. But both of my selves, as Asher and Ava feel real, and I remember my memories as both and experience reality as both. Of course it’s unlikely anyone else I know has accepted I live two lives.

When I was young, I would goof around and play like any kid and my parents would probably think I had an imaginary friend, myself. I would talk about my experiences of Asher when I’m Ava or talk about my experiences as Ava when I’m Asher. When I was younger, I was unaware that it was abnormal.

When I’m Asher Currant, I live in the year 1880, in a high-class victorian-era home. Growing up was confusing when one moment my consciousness was as him and then I fell into a sort of dream state, somehow always happening every second or third hour. I feel my head spin in a sense of vertigo for a split second, only to slip into an endless mindless state something indescribably blissful like sleep. Than reality jerks me “awake” to revert my consciousness as Ava in the middle of the 21st century, and no time seems to pass in this “sleep” as I am once again Ava. I could be Ava and then slip to the life of Asher, two hours or so later living as him and then I slip back to being Ava with her time-change being unchanged from the last time I was her. This way I was always the same age as both.

People probably thought I had short-term memory loss or a split personality with the confusion and headaches, but they wouldn’t believe the truth. I probably wouldn’t either as them. 

My younger cousins I lived with as Asher believed me, and so did my brother Kai and my lifetime friends Arabella and Nova from my life as Ava. However I sometimes wonder if they give me the benefit of the doubt, wonder if I really am crazy sometimes. Maybe I am, and so I don’t tend to talk about my double life, as the people in one of my lives couldn’t relate to the other people and experiences I live through in my other life.

It was strange finally realizing I lived two different lives as a kid. That Asher and Ava were two people, even though I was one self, and I still have yet to comprehend this even at sixteen years of age. Perhaps I would never know why I’m different, but in the meanwhile, knowledge of the future gives me some sort of “superpower” or foresight into what’s to come. Even though I can’t seem to find Asher Currant online when I’m as Ava and even my 21st century knowledge and early inventions as Asher doesn’t seem to change the future I’m in as Ava, my creepy-accurate foresight as Asher seems to baffle those who can’t understand how I was able to predict things that came true. However if I were to know something that I then prevented from happening, like I sometimes sent some anonymous letters to authorities about bank robberies, those events are still said to have happened when I’m once again Ava, even though they’re prevented in the past. The past doesn’t change when I’m in future.

I knew the future, couldn’t find my past self when I’m my future self, and can’t cause an intended paradox. So I have assumed my lives are separate time-streams. Two different lives that can’t change the fate of the other but are able to use their knowledge from each other to benefit the other life.

Wow, it’s strange to refer to yourself in third person in your own inner monologue isn’t it? I’m both Asher and Ava, but to myself I’m called Phoenix, as in the mythical immortal flaming bird. I use my name Phoenix to somehow unite my two selves, to represent my entire self, and not just myself as either Asher or Ava.

Who knows? Maybe I am like the immortal Phoenix. Do I rise from the ashes of time?

Ch. 1 - Part 1 - Seeing as Double  
Asher Currant

At the moment, I was Asher. And I was currently overwhelmed with the mixing and experimentation of organic paint dyes. Trying to find decent paint in the 1800s was near impossible. Even though we could probably afford it, we lived in a country manor pretty far off the beaten path from the nearest towns. And then there was hardly any stores that might sell some.

I was currently working with blackberries to create a dark purple oil paint. The labor of mixing the colors of plants into paints was becoming a fruitless endeavor. I have done my own paints before, but I was becoming overworked to make these paints perfect because it was for a birthday present. I was even going as far as to picking out every tiny seed of the berries to try to make the paints more “fluid”.

My youngest cousin Olivia’s eighth birthday was going to be splendid with feasting and dancing and games. She sure knew how to throw a party, especially considering she spent the last four months planning it. Everyone’s anticipation thickened the atmosphere of the house. My parents were overwhelmed with trying to find a band, my other cousins, Charlotte and Kassidy, were trying to make all the games Olivia wanted and the extra servants we hired were all crowding the kitchens to create a feast. That left me to organize the whole shindig, to keep everyone up to speed with what was going on and jumping in to help at some moments. At least Olivia helped out with some of the invitations.

I looked down at my finished paints and poured them into colored-glass bottles tied up with fancy ribbons. I was sure she was going to love it! We both enjoyed painting and we fixed up the old garden shed on our property to be the “art shed”. I looked around at the paint splattered walls and rosey-glowed windows of the shed, how long have I been in here? The day of the party was today and as I seemed to remember this I jumped up at a new surge of energy and grabbed the basket full of birthday paints, then rushed out the door.

The house was aglow with lit chandeliers and the friendly chattering of early guests, the band was tuning up their instruments in the dance hall and the smell of food wafted through the continuously opening and closing doors of the kitchens.

I set my gift with the others and looked around to look for Olivia. The even footsteps of tapping heels turned me around to see Charlotte, all adorned with a silver finely-crafted chain necklace and a dark emerald evening dress. I suddenly realized I had yet to dress up for the occasion.

“Come to crash the party wearing that paint-ruined frock? I spent hours getting ready and you haven’t even shaved!” she chided with a good-natured, wry smile.

“ I intend to get ready now, I had to finish the last of Olivia’s ‘gifts’ before I could.” I nodded and turned to briskly walked upstairs to my room. Charlotte glanced over her shoulder as if hearing something I didn’t catch. Eyes widened in amusement, she quickly turned back toward me and teasingly helped push me out of sight towards the staircase.

“Hurry before she sees you then and is disappointed by your choice of attire on her special day!” she whispered humorously.

“I will! Let go of me!” I grinned back and raced up the stairs as quietly and non-attentively as possible.

I entered the loud ticking noises of my room. My walls were covered up in so many collections of different wall clocks and grandfather clocks and cuckoo clocks and so on, it looked like I was obsessed with clocks, and I was with good reason.

The clocks all ticked and tocked and swinged their pendulums in synchronicity and the entirety of it was mesmerizing and hypnotic. I actually didn’t sleep often in the bed that was in here because I used to have the worst insomnia with the room sounding like a ticking time bomb.

I opened my closet which had a small clock set into the top border. The time was at the end of its second hour since my last “time jump” as Ava. Sometimes it lasted three hours and not knowing when I would suddenly “Jump” was suddenly infuriating when I was really looking forward to this party.

I quickly shaved and dressed and made my way back to the party, this time the entry hall echoing loud with newly arrived guests, many of whom I didn’t recognize, they were probably high-class officials or the occasional uninvited guest who probably snuck in for the good food. One of the nearby rooms would be full of Olivia’s friends playing party games and I made my way there to wish her a “Happy Birthday” and maybe join in on their fun. I wasn’t usually the one to socialize at parties like these, but I was always ready for the dancing, playing and feasting.

Looking around and taking in the levity of the whole event, I couldn’t help frowning. Knowing I would at any moment be whisked away back to taking a math test in school as Ava. I began going over the notes on math in my head once again just to help remind me of it once I Jumped back. But a confused look on someone’s face while noticing my bummed out one brought me back to what was going on around me and I instantly brought back my cheerful grin I had on before.

“Why are you frowning at my party? Is the dancing and playing of games something that upsets you now? Did you forget my present?” Olivia asked me. I looked down and at a third of my height was a little pink-cheeked doll in pink-ribboned braids. But she looked concerned, I suppose I should explain it had nothing to do with her amazing party.

“Of course I didn’t forget your present, I’ve been working on it all week! I’m just worried that Ava can’t be here, she has something absolutely dreadful to attend to at any moment. But she should be right back to attend your party.” I leaned down and bear-hugged her, pausing a moment after to look into ice-blue eyes. Olivia widely grinned and leaned in to whisper excitedly.

“She would be the one late to my party wouldn’t she?” she shook her head with an unceasing grin on her face.

Olivia seemed to be the only person I knew who seemed to really believe I had a “secret identity”, perhaps she thought the idea of it was as exciting as Santa Claus or it was her naiveté, either way it became a “special secret” between the two of us.

Other little girls who were Olivia’s friends called her over for a dancing game and I went over to the sweets table to get some cake. I noticed some parents gently pull their kids away from the table as I made my way over, not helping to stare at me warily until I looked back at them and then they avoided eye-contact. I was used to people being wary or curious of me because of my eccentric reputation, however I thought it was rather rude when they weren’t very subtle about their dislike towards me.

“At least they made room for me around the cake.” I thought half-heartedly as I got myself a slice. Everyone was then gathering around Olivia and her friends who were then dancing to a song the band started to play, and we all started to clap to the beat as they twirled and spun in the dance.

There was laughing and spinning and I started to eat my cake. My vision suddenly darkened and vertigo spun my head faster than the dance. The plate slipped from my hand and I heard a crash before all I saw was endless night. It seemed to last forever, but I was without consciousness to perceive where I was or what was going on.

Ava Bay

Vertigo then spun and then jerked my head to a stop, jerking myself awake most uncomfortably like ice water. I shook my head to focus, “Who was I, what am I doing?” I muttered to myself out of habit. I had to forget what happened and focus on what was happening.

“Right, the Gyro-physics math test.” I inwardly groaned as I took in the shapes and variables on the holoscreen that curved around me. I pulled out a 3D square pyramid shape out of the glowing blue screen with my holoscreen gloves. I flipped over the shape made out of light in my hands, making the shape bigger by pinching my fingers together and pulling outwards on the shape.

A blinking yellow health alert sign along the top of the screen warned me about my sudden falling in and out of consciousness, I quickly swiped it out of the way before the computer voice could start talking aloud and thus annoy me. I took in a deep breath and passed the shape of light between my two hands like a baseball. I looked around the testing pod I was in. It was like a big, black foam-lined bubble made to cancel out noise and distractions and prevent cheating.

I took a stylus pen out of the pocket of my one-suit, which was basically a pantsuit that could morph and change its shape and color to adjust to what I wanted to look like. It was basically a virtual screen outfit that could also create holoscreens over my arms for versatile technical uses.

I used the pen to write upon the holoscreen my final answers to the math problems. The single button on the table base that made up the holoscreen turned the screen off and opened the door out of the test pod. Blinking and adjusting to the sudden change of light I quickly glanced around at the dozens of other test pods in the huge curved room which would have other kids working on their tests.

The door of the pod next to mine opened up and a girl whose dark shades and gothic hairstyle, makeup and personality made my jaw tense and my tongue bit. Raya’s placid expression slightly quirked a smile as she turned to notice me. I curtly nodded I walked around her to the exit.

I frankly didn’t like dealing with spooky, quiet Raya. She hardly talked, and when she did it was a low-toned drawl that shortly answered questions addressed to her. However silent she was, she and her placid facade liked to stare at me in class and follow one step behind me in the halls. She didn’t seem like she was trying to purposely being mean, but rather she was intrigued by me or something and by observing me like a science experiment she could somehow fulfill her curiosity. Either way, having to avoid awkward interactions with her was becoming exhausting after three years of high school.

Exiting the room and quickly using the facial recognition stand by the door to record my leaving of the testing lab, sure enough, Raya was two steps behind me, matching her speed to mine when I tried to discreetly speedwalk back to class.

We made it into the empty Shark hallway, a tunnel whose curved walls of virtual screens created an aquarium of swimming great white sharks. I turned around to face her, trying to keep my emotions calm in order to ask if she wanted to ask me anything.

“Did you want to ask me anything?” I asked as politely as I could tone my voice to be. Raya looked slightly surprised for a millisecond at the sudden stop, then bored once again. She slightly shook her head slowly and then walked around me then out of view of the hallway.

I rolled my eyes, I really shouldn’t let her get to me considering there were others who would like to tease me to no end because of the rumors of my “wild imagination”. After years I would shrug off the insecurity that classmates would not so subtly express judgemental looks at my choice of wearing my one-suit as a trench coat and jeans most days of the week, the cut of my copper-brown hair, that’s as short as a guy’s so its change of length didn’t irritate me when I changed between Asher and Ava, and also my non-social personality that seemed to make it morally easy for others to contemplate the dark mystery that is Ava Bay.

Speaking of, as I walked out of the hallway a certain platinum blonde, violet-eyed girl crossed my path. She was one of “Enhanced” who had their features and complexion surgically altered to appear more beautiful. Her arms covered in nearly-transparent moving light-tattoos that swirled and spun to her heartbeat. Her straight chin-up posture and gliding gait, along with her unnatural beauty, demanded attention.

People couldn’t get their features “Enhanced” until the age of eighteen according to laws, but Sunset was one of those that probably paid for the procedure on the black market. It’s said she got away with it with the authorities by explaining that she was this beautiful naturally, but anyone with common sense knew she could sweet-talk phoney lies as if they were a fluent language and besides nobody would believe anyone as beautiful as a model nowadays was naturally that pretty.

Anyways, she always seemed to have it out for me, since even though she commanded the attention of most of the students at school, everyone more-or-less enjoyed spreading rumors about the mysterious, eccentric Ava Bay, and that really seemed to infuriate Sunset’s ego. Perhaps she only liked to bother me and call me a “Freak” like some others just because she could, but I always figured it was more than that. Even though she seemed to hate me, I always tried to keep my respectful nature around her, figuring we just started off on the wrong foot and someday she’ll come to her senses and return that respect. In the meanwhile, I still had to deal with any infuriating thing she throws at me.

“Freak looks upset, are you okay? That math test too hard to understand?” Her mock sympathy vocal poison to the already growing feeling of dread in my gut. My eyes were mesmerized to the glowing fuchsia of her anime eyes’ irises.

“It’s the only complicated subject I have yet to tackle. I think I did just fine on this test though. How about you?” I responded nonchalantly. Swallowing as a weak attempt to pull myself out of her wide-eyed gaze.

“I could fail that stupid class and still go to college and then run my family’s fashion business, I just choose not to fail, because failing is not in my vocabulary.” she lazily drawled and rolled her eyes. Then pausing to stare and smirk at me as if I was some ignorant kid that didn’t know the “Oh-so important fact” that her family was rich and powerful. Everyone at this school didn’t need to constantly be reminded of her social and wealth status. When was her spoiled-rotten self going to realize the world didn’t revolve around her?

“I’m late for class.” I couldn’t help the venomous spite in my voice this time. 

Sunset hair-flipped her salon-styled hair over her shoulder and smirked even more-so, victorious that she was able to break down the chill and relaxed attitude I had kept up for so many days and months. “Fine,” I thought bitterly, “Two can play at this game.”

“Oh, um your lipstick looks badly smudged.” I responded honestly. I wasn’t so sure if I should’ve said anything before, but if she wanted me to be angry at her, at least I could try to turn her anger on me towards herself as I knew she couldn’t stand that her stupid makeup was ruined during her conversation with her “nemesis”. Her need to be “perfect” to somehow get at me sometimes was so stupid.

Her eyes widened and her graceful position shifted into being something that was obviously furious. I continued to walk to class, mentally telling myself not to smirk at all as what I did wasn’t nice. But really...

History class went by in a blur, but it was enjoyable, since I probably understood the material better than the other foggy-headed fatigued students in the class. After, I made my way to the cafeteria, where students got to choose whatever they wanted to eat and have it materialized on their trays. The molecular food processors rearranged carbon molecules to create designed copies of foods that had previously been analyzed and put in their database. 

I ordered some cider and spaghetti and joined my friends Arabella and Nova at the furthest corner table in the cafeteria, which currently had its holoscreens create the realistic effect in the entire room to be a golden grass field. I walked across the rather huge field and sat down next to Nova, who was enjoying a chocolate chip cookie while animately engaged in what Arabella was telling her about today.

“I’m just saying this history lesson didn’t make any sense, how did the crazy effects of global warming cause the winter decades? There was enough carbon dioxide in the air to do the opposite effect.” Arabella explained.

“It had to do with humans once again messing with mother nature. There was rumors that small government groups testing on trying to reverse the ‘greenhouse effect’ by trying to manually control some weather patterns was what caused it. Although some people also say it might be shifts in the Earth’s magnetic poles or something, it was never clearly explained so there’s a bunch of theories. At least we fixed the environmental disaster we created.” Nova replied, her color changing chin-length hair shifting from blues and greens to pinks and oranges in the warm sunlight. 

Her bright personality matched her colorful neon outfits, sparkling green eyes and berry lipstick. I almost never saw her without a necklace with a rainbow-glowing color-changing pendant the size of the palm of her hand. 

Arabella looked so different in comparison, you probably would never guess they were friends except we were all seen together as friends for years since we all lived right next to each other. She had thick egyptian-style eyeliner, a cascading black waterfall of hair that fell down her back even though she kept it in a high ponytail, and often wore golden cat-eye contacts. Her metallic gold choice of lip color always beautifully contrasted with her olive skin.

Me and my friends all grew up next to each other, and most of the students at my school didn’t move around much either, so we all seemed to know each other from elementary school. Of course it hard to move away when you lived in a Terradome, which was basically a domed artificial-earth environment on Mars. We lived in Terradome Sahara, the newest, only a few decades old, but the biggest. The huge domed environment created the atmosphere we needed to live in, scheduled rain, supplied and recycled oxygen, while also being near transparent to see the sun, but adjusting to the outside natural forces. Mankind’s first step out into living among the stars started with trying to make a colony on Mars. There was also neighboring Terradomes; Ruby, which was the first and is mainly self-sufficient with their agriculture-based community, however their androids were the ones doing most of the farmwork, William, which is the smallest, but it’s a science-based community only, except close family members were allowed, and Savannah, which was right next to Terradome Sahara and near similar with a city of its own. 

My mom is an engineer for designing the dome, so our family got to live here when they recruited her. Most of the community were recruited family members, but some families would’ve paid a rather large sum of money to get a chance to live here, with the limited space and everything. My friend Arabella’s family wasn’t one of the recruited, her family wanted to move here. Nova’s father was a solar-energy engineer. Our main source of energy and heat source was the sun, the solar panels of the dome were transparent but effective.

I gulped down my cider while my friend's discussion slowly quieted into a contemplative eating.My lunch plate also had a slice of chocolate cake, which I ordered because the cake I dropped as Asher probably wouldn’t be any good when I “Jumped” back.

Oh right, Asher! I checked my holoscreen watch that hovered over my sleeve. I had a general half hour left until a “Jump”. Checking my watch so often was one of my unusual habits, most of my teachers thought I was rudely impatient to get out of class. My friend to my right, Nova, noticed my watch-checking with a curious grin.

“So, wasn’t this the ‘yesterday’ you said Olivia birthday happened?” Nova brought up. She and Ava leaned in to hear of my latest double-life moments. I swallowed my juice, when Arabella inquired “I really wish I could meet her, she sounds like such an adorable little girl! If she lives in the past is it possible we could look her up? I know you had no luck with your record’s online, but what about her’s?”

I bit my lip gently and sighed, “Apparently to the internet, Asher and his entire family, relatives, friends, townsfolk, nobody I know exists.” a sinking feeling made me sigh again, “I thought of the possibility of different dimensions, that I deleted my own records for my own sake, or that… well-” I bent my head down to rub the back of my neck, that was tense from the stress of the day.

“You’re not making this up, you’re the most level-headed person I know.” Nova assured.

Oh if only there was a more logical explanation than me possibly making it all up. What if Ava’s life or Asher’s wasn’t real at all? I think I know deep down that it’s highly improbable I could actually travel through time compared to the likelihood I was most likely crazy. If only there was something I could find, the house I lived in as Asher perhaps, but all my searches had reached dead ends. How could either of my lives be possibly made-up when they both seemed so real to me?

I somberly chewed my spaghetti. Arabella and Nova trying to send assuring, but concerned faces towards me. I returned the “Really-I’m-Fine-Guys” expression and gesture.

“ Thanks, but I would like to find some clues.” I explained. But really, where else was there to search into? It probably was best that I never found what happened to Asher.


	2. Blue Ruby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava meets Justice and Asher finishes Olivia's party. Asher's cousin Kassidy [Kass] is introduced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted this chapter to be longer, but I figured it would take forever to post anything if I continued to write until each chapter was really really long. So I plan to make my later chapters longer instead as I try to get into the habit of writing more frequently.  
> Also, I know that the beginning part of explaining how the Disassembling Pod works is a bit unnecessarily complicated, but I wanted my readers to understand some of the technology I added into the era of my futuristic character Ava as it would probably mentioned many times later on so I figured I go in-depth about what it is now so it isn't confusing.  
> Also I get to bring in some new characters, as any Author does in the beginning of a story right? It's kinda exciting considering I have some fun ideas on where to go with them. I do need some ideas to create some more in-depth characteristics about my characters, like words to describe their appearance or personality in interesting ways, so I'm open to ideas!

Chapter 2 - Blue Ruby  
Ava Bay  
Lunch was over shortly after, my friends shifted back to the conversation of The Winter Decade and then how it nearly caused WWIII, “The War in Winter” as it was called. The whole environment disaster caused a supply scarcity and chaos, but it luckily didn’t escalate to a full on battle between countries because the officials actually got together and discussed how to help each other deal with the problem. Of course there was still the whole “Mutually Assured Destruction” and the countries didn’t wish to start the war that caused “The Winter Decade” to be called “The Nuclear-Winter Decade” instead. Ironically it was a lot like The Cold War, except it was actually, literally cold this time.

I set my tray on top of the others in the Disassembling Pod on my way out of the cafeteria. The pod was full of five other dirty trays, and so I decided to be the polite one by clearing the space for the next people to put their dirty done dishes. I pulled the sliding glass panel over the box-like pod of dishes and pressed some buttons on the touchscreen above the pod to set in the Disassembling Procedure. There was a laser scanning the interior of the box, once and twice for safety and then a bright light, about as bright as the highest setting on a brightness setting of a computer, it filled the pod with bright light and then it was empty. The machine had broken down the leftover food trays back into molecular form in an “weightless vacuum” machine that was behind the Disassembling Pod. The molecules in the weightless vacuum machine would then be put into an Assembling Pod, and with help from a synthetically manufactured superfluid, it rearrange the molecules into anything based on the data code, a “data code” was a previous analyzation of the object you chose to make set into blueprints for your computer to understand. You could then create anything from wool socks to wedding cakes as long as there was a previous object the computer could analyse and take the designs from to know how to build a copy. 

However easy it was to instantly create anything nowadays, some people like me still liked to have hand-made things, and earth-grown food when they could, they became more special because of the thought behind them and the uniqueness they had by being an original. Also, because food made from the earth tasted better even though they were exact duplicates. However, living in a Mars colony made food like that rare and special commodities. 

I looked around to notice that I was holding up the line, even though I was done with the Disassembling Pod. So I tightened the straps of my anti-gravity backpack and headed back to a class.

Philosophy class was one of my most interesting classes, since we were actually able to speak freely about opinions and observations without having to be told we’re incorrect or if we were correct. Everything we talked about was unknown and abstract and for some of us, leaving us in complicated thoughts of awe afterwards. 

I pressed the single, blank white smooth button an arm’s-length in front of me on the desk, turning on the desk’s touch screen on the smooth long and paperwhite table. I used the activated touch screen that was a part of the desk’s surface to adjust the comfortable cushions on my chair to fit my shape. Humming along to the tune of the dance that was going on at Olivia’s party before I had left.

I looked around at the other kids coming in to settle in their seats, I continued to hum, to admire someone’s “enhanced” glowing strawberry hair that appeared to blow gently in the wind when the classroom’s windows were clearly shut. My eyes wandered around to look to my left and then my mind’s confusion entity facepalmed me in the face. A new face I’ve never seen in my class before, or anywhere for that matter. She turned and smiled at me, she wore her natural-looking chocolate wavy-brown hair down on her shoulders and what didn’t look like a shifted one-suit design of a simple pink T-shirt and comfy sweatpants with a sport’s team logo on it. I didn’t see a lot of people who wore regular clothes instead of the one-suit with whatever design you wanted, it was...uncommon. She also had real freckles, I didn’t see a lot of people who had freckles. Even on the sunny planet of Mars, people still liked to erase the wrinkles, acne or dark spots on their skin with different but commonly effective skin treatments of the day. It was a kinda cool thing to see people embrace their “imperfections” of freckles or “beauty marks”. It brought them a unique characteristic I wished I could also have one day.

The girl must’ve noticed my pause at turning around to her and having yet to say anything in return to the “Hello!” she smiled with.

“Hey, I’m Ava, um, are you new to this class?” I asked.

“Yeah, new to Sahara. From England, Earth. My name’s Justice.” She replied with the accent. Her eyes not even wandering away from my own eyes looking at hers. I instinctively looked away at her freckled nose instead, never was comfortable with looking directly at someone’s eyes. But I glanced back, hers were ice blue, I was transfixed as I noticed her eyes slowly changed colors to sparkling ruby red. She blinked, and I suddenly replied after that two-second silence.

“Welcome to Mars! I gotta say it’s amazing to meet someone from earth, I haven’t actually been there in years and neither has a lot of people here. Crazy travel costs, you know?”

“ Well there’s bigger cities where I was from. I thought coming here it would be like being stuck in a desolate town with a few research stations in the middle of nowhere, but this place is a lot bigger than I remember.” she put her phone on the table and the touch screen on the surface streamed pictures from it. The pictures of London showed towering skyscrapers unlike anything I saw here. 

“You’ve been here before? When this place was still in construction?” I asked and she noded not as enthusiastically as I would’ve done. 

“It wasn’t that exciting, remember it was just research stations” she chuckled. Right, I thought it would’ve been cool to be here when Mars was still thought to have been exciting since it was unexplored. A lot of it was still not explored though, however everyone’s busy lives here continued to go on inside the dome.

The teacher drew the attention the of the class and we continued our lecture from yesterday. A lot of us typed the notes from the board onto the desk’s touch screen computer. I absentmindedly continued to hum the song I was humming to before, suddenly stopping when the teacher looked my way as a sign to be quiet during the lecture. I wasn’t humming anymore, but the song in my head continued to get more persistently louder. Louder? Wait, I was actually hearing it and it wasn’t in my head, I think, but the students around me didn’t seem to be hearing the overwhelmingly loud music that drowned out the noise of the lecture. I turned the volume of my hearing aids louder, the music and the lecture was then louder. I then heard something loud shattering and I immediately turned my head to the perfectly fine windows. 

My vision darkened and I held on to the edge of the desk to prepare for the vertigo. Then the complete unconsciousness. I didn’t understand why I was hearing the music from Olivia’s party? I never had this happen.

 

Asher Currant

The plate I had dropped was the shattering sound I had heard as Ava. As I now understood as I looked down at the shattered plate on the floor for a moment of blank-minded confusion, the music in the room paused for a second out of the musician’s curiosity to look up from their music sheets to the loud sound. Then continued to keep up the rhythm for the dancers.

I took a cloth napkin from the table to start picking up the shards. The servant who had just come in to serve cookies on the table set the tray down quickly to help me. She shooed me away, insisting I continue to enjoy the party, I thanked her and she politely nodded. 

It was then I noticed the wary parents who were staring at me like before, probably inwardly saying their wariness of me was justified because I proven to do something dangerous, dropping the plate and getting sharp remnants on the floor. I avoided their gaze to walk to the mostly empty hallway. A few groups of people socializing were by the open door to the family’s ballroom where different waltz music drifted in from. 

I peered around the edge of the large entryway to see graceful dancing and cheerful faces of onlookers. Unfaltering grinning faces with minds focused on social graces and the slow rhythm. The same waltzy rhythm I decided to focus on instead of my own hectic thoughts. “Just grin and bear it! Even though you and everyone here is pretty convinced that you’re mad.” I inwardly sighed, politely expressing feigned interests at the dancing.

I thought about those blue ruby eyes Justice had, probably some fancy contacts she was able to get from Earth. The face-palmingly boring math test, the actually really good melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cake from lunch, my friends, the topic of today’s lessons and those eyes again, briefly considering having those contacts for myself.

Someone took to standing to my right, arms crossed, same politely feigned interest as mine, but agitated drumming of fingers. Kassidy and I looked near identical with the same dark short-cut hair, wide forest-green eyes and fair complexion. Many have also thought of us as twins or even as each other as Kass often prefered to wear more comfortable clothes, pants, shirts and sturdy, worn leather boots. One day she simply got exasperated with her long unruly hair and cut it to be as short as mine, liked it as such and kept it cut short above her chin ever since. 

We seemed to have very similar personalities, looks and interests and so I was one of the few she seemed to like to be around. I wasn’t particularly liked for my behavior, but she seemed to get a lot of pointed glares she then ignored at these social gatherings. As odd as I was, her “unladylike behavior” was constantly frowned upon that Kass eventually decided to care less about attending any formal gathering. So you could imagine my surprise when I saw her here. In pants, however they were nice so…

“Sometimes I wish I took interest in dancing, there’s not much to do at these things are there?” she softly smiled, shining eyes lazily watching the dancers twirl as one would watch a flame of a candle burn slowly until extinguished. 

I supposed I understood her behavior sometimes, as Ava I had the same short hair, cut above the ears, and I had the same tastes in comfortable clothing. Sometimes people mistook Ava and Kass as boys and frankly, I would be offended. However, considering my “circumstances” I was able to quickly notice the more subtle differences in genders more easily than some so I tried not to be affronted by such trivial mistakes.

“I could always dance with you if you wished.” I insisted, I actually liked dancing.

“Can’t dance.” She mumbled, her eyes lowered town to the sliding graceful steps of the dancers.

“Than don’t. Just follow me.” I held out my hand and she gripped it with a suspicious grin on her face.

I lead her just outside the front doors. The windows of the house rose aglow onto the stone patio. The music, faint but heard among the buzzing sounds of crickets and cicadas. 

“May I have this dance?” I gave an exaggerated bow meant in good-humor. Kass’s grin widened and silently chuckled. Taking my hand, she suddenly pulled me quickly into a fast paced jig. Sudden adrenaline, foot kicks and accidental steps on toes we moved in quick movements to the faster rhythm of our heartbeats than the actual slow and graceful waltz from indoors. 

Laughing harder than we could breathe we eventually stopped to catch a breath, barely minding the looks from the party guests indoors, some amused, confused or glares mostly from the same rude individuals that have been giving the same sharp-dagger stares in our direction all night.

“What was that?” I laughed, head over knees laughing, arms out to try to hold balance.

“ I thought I was a terrible dancer! You kept stepping on me!” She guffawed, pointing at me. 

“ I’m a great dancer! You caught me off guard you git!” I brought back. “How was I supposed to know you wanted to prance and gallop like a drunken mule mylady?” still laughing harder than I could say a retort.

“Drunken mule?! You-” She tackled me headfirst, punching the lungs out of me, and I tried to move her sudden momentum to my left. Kass screamed and soon did I as I realized I had thrown us over the fenced edge of the patio into Charlotte’s prized rosebushes.

Olivia enjoyed the new paints I gave her when she was opening gifts, however she seemed pretty baffled to look over see me and Kass red-faced and covered in thorns and red petals having trouble trying to keep ourselves from bursting with laughter. She quickly shifted her features to cheerful amusement though. I pricked my thumb picking off a particularly thorny branch caught in my hair and had to bandage it later after the party.

Overall I thought the party went pretty well, the guests slowly left shortly after the present opening and so I left while there was still conversations in the main hallway to go upstairs to bed. Quickly getting nightclothes before exiting the noisy bedroom of clocks to crash exhausted on the large couch in the nearby sitting room. Charlotte briefly berated me for killing her roses, I drank some leftover warm cider, and read from one of the dozens of stacks of books I kept right by that particular couch I prefered to always sleep in instead of my bed. I asked about moving my bed into here, but I was scolded that If I wanted to sleep in my own bed I should just get rid of the clocks in my bedroom. So I ended up having to sleep on the couch every night.


	3. Intrusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava drives home on her Hoverbike, but comes across a strange and returning anonymous stalker. Later, a strange nightmare and another nightmare when awake.

Chapter 3 - Intrusion  
Ava Bay

Sleeping caused my time travel abilities to act differently, perhaps because I became unconscious as I fell asleep as Asher but I was still awake as Ava. Whenever I “Jumped” into being Asher when he was asleep, I would be unconscious, dreaming, unaware and far away from remembering what just happened when I was Ava. Speaking of, as I drifted off asleep as Asher I Jumped back to being her, fully awake in class. It was like being doused with ice cold water at two in the morning, jarring and sudden.

Luckily I had held onto the edge of my desk as my head went into a common vertigo and fading of vision. I tried to hold still, knowing it would be over quickly and it was. I quickly glanced around and relaxed as I realized nobody was looking at me. I already had too many people who took notice of my constant “headaches” and I had to assure them I was taking a medication of some kind, and I was. I had a doctor that prescribed me medications to prevent the vertigo I was feeling, but honestly I never told anyone they didn’t actually work, none of the medications for my “headaches” ever did, but I didn’t want people to worry. They didn’t need to worry anyways, I was able to control it for the most part by now. 

School was over after that class and as students were leaving to finally go out into the magnetizing glow of sunlight, I run around the edge of the school to find my favorite vehicle of transportation, my Speed-bike, a.k.a “Bluebelle”. I had it decked out to look like a glistening, glowing baby-blue vintage Harley Davidson motorbike. But instead of wheels, a Speed-bike or “Hoverbike” flew, with realistic-looking, holographic, white-walled wheels instead that were mostly there for show. Since Bluebelle defied gravity, with the help of the latest advancements in the electromagnetic technology of the decade, she went much faster than ground-bound vehicles. Much faster! I had learned to race them, non professionally however, with my brother Kai. I wouldn’t be able to recall the countless times we went so fast over the open desert outside the dome that we could’ve broken the sound barrier. Perhaps I’m exaggerating, but I can’t help but feel a sense of pride in the effort I put in to be pretty good in racing Hoverbikes, something I loved to do.

So after I strapped on the gloves, helmet and the magnetic belt and bracelet, they were used for safety and balancing on the bike, I took off at low speed to leave the school grounds. Once outside, I hardly took notice as a little pigtailed girl on the school playground stared upwards, mouth agape as she watched a blue streak loop-da-loop the sky. I guess I was a little too excited that it was Friday afternoon. I whooped and hollered with the loops before leveling out the bike and then asking my voice-activated helmet to play some Journey songs.

High above the ground, I tried to keep to the regulated Skyroads, the outlined paths in the sky that showed where I was allowed to drive, it was against the law to do otherwise. I suppose it made sense, without road regulations in the sky as well as on the ground everyone would prefer the sky and then transportation would chaos. However it kind of ruined the feeling of being in the free open sky like I was the first minute of taking off from the ground.

Being so high above you could see the top of the Terradome that encompassed the entire city, and beyond that, the real sky. I sighed as I filed into the line of other hover vehicles currently stuck in traffic. It has been a long time since I had been out of the dome, racing over the open terrain, however it was a long process to just get out of the guarded doors to the outside. The city liked to regulate who came into and out of the city and just getting outside to ride a Speed-bike was a dedicated effort much like getting up a mountain to ski. The longest part was getting to where you could ski, or in this case Hoverbike. You had to get on your protective gear, your ticket and then you had to travel so far out of the way of the dome to where you were allowed to finally bike. But, oh it was really really fun!

I switched the song playing in my helmet to “ I Ran [so far away]” by A Flock Of Seagulls, as I finally got into the “open skyroad”, speeding along past the court building me and my brother Kai always liked to joke about looking like the Avengers Building from an old movie, past an “Art Park” of architectural art and statues and sparkling green and yellow play structures for kids and antigravity hoverboarding structures for teens. The blowing dry wind ruffled my jacket sleeves with warm air, and the sun seemed to shine with such intensity on my sparkling baby-blue bike that I wish I could look at nowhere else while I drove. However I checked my mirrors and noticed as I slowed down at an intersection that a familiar dark grey hover-vehicle appeared at my left. 

The tinted dark windows against the sun had always prevented me from seeing who was inside. It wasn’t that this car looked interesting or that I actually knew who was inside, because I wish I did as I glared at the black windows. They weren’t fooling me for the millionth time, whoever they were. This same shaded car sometimes followed me relentlessly around town, there were days I tested it by going around the same block thrice in a neighborhood to lose it, however it would never follow me down the street I lived on or show up when I was riding with other people so I was called “paranoid” whenever I brought it up casually at a conversation. I honestly thought it was just some students who were curious about the “crazy student who claims she is a time traveler” and so I tried not to let them get to me, but I would still like to tell them to cut it out.

“Well, I should…” I thought as I glided my bike over to their window and tapped on it, trying to focus my vision to see through the glass, I was able to see two moving figures inside, the one on my side seeming to face me, however I could barely make out their features, they seemed to be wearing shades and sweatshirts, their chin-length messy hair fell over their indistinguishable pale faces.

“Excuse me!” I tried to raise my voice as I tapped again. The figure closer to me, whom I was somewhat sure was a young female just looked at me briefly with furrowed, concerned, dark brows and then turned towards the now-hooded driver who curtly nodded and pulled up on the steering. I quickly turned my bike out of the way as the car sharply turned sideways and dived to the streets below. I put my foot down on the near-transparent shield that made up the road, balancing my hovering bike as I stared stone-faced at the disappearing car. 

“Ignore, ignore and drive on.” I muttered as I had to take off on my bike as the traffic light ahead finally turned green.

I arrived home shortly after, the community in the terradome wasn’t that big. Just some large buildings and parks and then mostly surrounding forests of genetically engineered trees, animals and plants that were adapted to the different environment on Mars. The large, tall and green forests were important for the oxygen we breathed as well as supplying us with resources and a resemblance of Earth, our home.

The forests also provided the only man-made lake on Mars, The Rose Lake, although blue, was surrounded by red earth and the very red sunsets on the open horizon of Mars seemed to turn the light reflecting on the lake a dusky pink color. I remembered many summers where every kid in the city came to cool off in that warm, sparkling lake.

My house, or rather a cabin, was near the edge of the forest and there used to be an overgrown dirt path that was near our backyard that was a shortcut to Rose Lake. After years, the path became lost to the growth, we hardly had time or interest to go to that lake anymore. Flying around that edge of forest behind the backyard to land with my bike in the back of the house brought back some nostalgia. As things of your past always seem to do.

Yawning and my head cotton-stuffed with rosy-glowing memories, I rubbed my heavy eyes to try to stay awake. One problem I always seemed to have to deal with was trying to stay awake when my other self, Asher or Ava, was sleeping. At least this was some earlier warning that I was about to Jump consciousness to Asher.

I parked Bluebelle and went into my cabin home. The home was a mix of modern technology within the style of a classic old-fashion cabin-in-the-woods. Thick, rustic colors in the wool blankets, rugs and couches. Polished stained-wood walls and a corner, semi-circle, gas-lighted, stone fireplace that crackled a warm fire as it always has. I stretched repeatedly as I took off my light coat and hat, and yawned uncontrollably again and again as I took off my knee-high shoes, the boots and my socks the only clothing separate from my one-suit. And I crashed, exhausted onto the huge-cushioned couch that was a part of my family’s cozy, confined sitting room. And felt the common vertigo and slip into unconsciousness.

Asher Currant

Being semi-conscious because of my circumstances I often had lucid dreams when I entered REM. I kinda did the usual, flying over clouds with blissful exhilaration, piloting light-speed spacecraft in space like from Star Wars and eating tons of imaginary chocolate that probably never tasted as good as the real thing, but I imagined it tasted great anyways. I always thought it was rather odd to be in a world I knew to be of my own making, but exciting as well, because I could do anything in my own mind.

And since I usually had control of my surroundings I haven’t had a nightmare in years. But this time I couldn’t make a creepy-looking shadow orb go away. A sphere of pitch-black that seemed to appear for brief moments beside me, hovering and draining the bright colors around it like looking at a picture that has been photoshopped with a black-and-white setting. It felt ominous and terrifying. What was it doing in my head? 

Because I was able to create the world around me still unconsciously while realising the world was a dream, I had wondered if this Shadow Orb was something I had subconsciously created, but it made little sense. Just why was it there?

At the moment I was running at lightning speeds over valleys and mountains believing completely that the orb should just leave me alone if I believed I had placed it somewhere in my dream and told it not to move. I looked to my sides as blurs of indistinguishable gold colors rushed past me. Something happened to the feeling in my gut like a dull punch, a feeling of sudden surged terror for no reason until I realised I had sensed that that thing had appeared far ahead of me in the distance. Unmoving as I tried to stop running to not move into it. The world around me continued to rush past my feet yet the orb ahead of me didn’t move at all. 

Then it moved slowly towards me, growing bigger with its endless black depths, I tried to back away but the ground still rushed forward past me, my legs stiffening before I could move right. And it got closer and closer, slower and then it suddenly lurched forward as I screamed before it consumed me.

There was suddenly a human figure that appeared to stand between me and that orb the millisecond before I jerked awake in cold sweat. Panting, I briefly contemplated the words “What the..?” in my head over and over again. I didn’t get it, I was aware that it was just a dream? I eventually calmed down my nerves enough to come to terms that I finally had my first nightmare in years. And I was in a dark room, very cold and very tired. Too tired to think much further than “I’m on the couch, okay…” before groaning and closing my eyes again to try to go back to sleep. It didn’t work. The cold sweat and the anxiety seemed to grip me in reality. My sore eyes tightly shut but a futile effort to the fact I couldn’t sleep.

I could barely think through the exhaustion, it was a rather stupid dream anyways and I guess I was glad to be able to ignore it for the most part. But, everything around me suddenly became very aware and slow. As minutes felt like hours, I finally had to get out of the only source of heat that was my blanket and walk downstairs to do something before the boredom made me snap.

I didn’t focus on much as me and my candle headed for the kitchen for leftover birthday food. And I was finally able to doze off shortly until I woke up twenty-some minutes later to the flickering candlelight far away in the window. Not thinking much of it, probably a late night hiker, I watched the light dim and shrink and go. Suddenly realizing as I was finally able to come to some sense that nobody should be awake on our property, not even the servants were up this late and most of them would be at their homes anyways. Why would someone be in our front gardens?

I rubbed my eyes and shook my head as I walked back to my couch. Making my way to the stairs I rubbed my arms as something cold blew against them. Focusing my tired eyes in the dark I realised that a shining moonlight lit up the open front door. The doors’ elegantly carved dark-wooden latch seemed to have been removed from the door like it was carved out of the edge. 

Going over to the latch that seemed to have fallen onto the ground, I picked it up and examined its roughly carved edge. The feeling of sudden terror returned from earlier. A chair was pulled to prop up against the now-closed door to keep it closed and the carved out latch was fitted back into place like a puzzle piece.

I tip toed and glanced around the dark hallways armed with my grandfather’s old cane I found by the front door. My lantern, held in my left hand, barely lit the areas around me. I didn’t take long as I realized the light that I saw earlier was probably whoever it was leaving after perhaps stealing something small that was left around. I didn’t seem to notice anything important gone or things knocked over or rustled through. 

I propped up another chair against my room’s door as soon as I snuck in. Glancing around after doing so I was able to calm my nerves that there wasn’t anywhere anyone could really hide.

Pulling myself under my blankets, I grabbed the closest book by my side to read me to sleep. However, a paper that I hadn’t noticed was on top of it slipped and fell to the ground. Leaning over to pick it up I froze as I realised that it was addressed to “Ava”. 

But then the vertigo came.


	4. Beast of Shadow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava contemplates the letter with her name, and the break-in. Also introduced in this chapter, futuristic 3D-interactive gameplay.

Chapter 4 - Beast of Shadow  
Ava Bay

Groggy-headed, I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to stare at the ceiling. The moment of me reading the slip of paper in my hand. That fading, fuzzy image as I knew it was my name in large floral print. Reasonably it was probably from Kass or Charlotte as they were the only ones I knew who really knew about Ava, my parents and relatives ignored that part of my life completely, the name Ava wasn’t mentioned around them without myself knowing they were questioning my sanity. Olivia was the only one who would even mention talking about Ava though, Kass and Charlotte didn’t ask or question about her, however Olivia didn’t have nice penmanship like the kind I saw. But if it was either Kass or Charlotte, probably Kass, Charlotte was so proper sometimes that she would sometimes address me with my middle name “Asher David” let alone using my other name “Ava” when she asked about my “Headaches”. To her, she probably thought that Ava was another person entirely, a made up person or someone whom I sometimes wish I could be.

But why would Kass write to Ava? And in the middle of the night too? Maybe it was there earlier before and I just hadn’t noticed?

I tried to dismiss the idea that whoever broke into the house might’ve been who left the letter. Firstly, how would they know Ava’s name, I had heard rumors that I was insane because I believed I could travel through time, but the name Ava was hardly ever discussed as far as I knew. Even if they knew that name, why break into my house in the middle of the night of all times? And then leave the note on MY couch, not by the front door, or my room where I was expected to sleep, but on the couch?

I shuddered, imagining what it would be like if I was still sleeping on that couch when the intruder came in. I shook my head, shook the image from my mind. My couch, my room, my own privacy felt violated! After being stalked, waking up from a nightmare, I had to have that happen to me? This has been the most stupidest of stupid days.

Groaning, I got up to finish some homework to take my mind off things. At least with being able to pass some time I was stepping closer to being able to read that letter. And then I would’ve worried about nothing as I realize it's from Kass. Asking for who-knows-what.

I went to my room to do my work and my room was very different from Asher’s. For one, I actually had a bed, well of sorts. It was a sleeping pod. It looked like a pearlescent elongated egg that opened on its side for you to go in. Inside, the ceiling of the pod was customized with dim purple stars that danced and faded in and out slowly in a calm rhythm.  
I had the inside of the pod set to the right temperature, the right humidity, the right calm sounds of crackling fires and ocean waves. The bed itself was a memory-foam-like material that adjusted on voice command. I heard some sleeping pods were actually filled with warm, shallow water to sleep in, but I couldn’t imagine having to wear waterproof pajamas every night.

The round egglike bed was on the far left corner of my room set upon a mahogany bedstand. The rest of my room was currently dark, but lit with light holograms of gracefully swimming blue jellyfish that were like my room’s screensaver.

“Mel,” whom I called my house’s artificially intelligent computer, “turn program ‘Blue 12’ off. Turn room lights on.” I enunciated to the room. The Jellyfish disappeared and the rosy lights on the ceiling turned on. I had a cluttered vanity table along the right side of my room. Bookshelves in the walls bordering the circular mirror covered with stickers of antique cars and taped-on sketches of fashion designs. The books and files among sunglasses and stuffed animals overflowed the edges of the shelves. The computer desk was in the far right corner, the semicircle desk held a large, circular, flat, metal disk that was slightly dipped into the table. It created the 3D holographic realistic models that you could manipulate with holoscreen gloves. The holographic screen could also create a vertical touchscreen and keyboard.

The rest of my room was hanging art pieces, posters of fancy hoverbikes and arbitrary fashion-designed outfits and neon marine life that moved in their pictures, The shaggy grey-carpeting covered the floor except for the center, where there was a circular light-colored wooden emblem of interwoven branches and feathers that was about my height in length across. The center circle of the emblem was slightly raised an inch and if I were to step on it and ask Mel to “Activate the elevator”, the platform would slowly lower me down into my rooms that were located below my bedroom. The platform lowered down into a small “T-shaped” hallway that had a screen that showed the camera-viewing of my bedroom above me. The hallways branched off into my personal bathroom and my small closet area and craft room. 

I dropped off my school bag and changed into my motorcycle gear. It was separate from my one-suit, because one-suits were kinda expensive and I didn’t wish to damage it while riding. After setting my helmet in the bend of my elbow, I quickly grabbed a cold peach lemonade from the small assembling pod in my room I had styled to look like a vintage 1950’s icebox, and I headed out the front door.

I planned to ride to a nearby Media Building, which was like this century’s version of an arcade, but had “Holoscreen Rooms” to play immersive video games or to watch movies in 4D. They would set you up with a “Holoscreen Suit”, which was like the holoscreen gloves but with being able to use your entire body as the controller. I had my own, rather expensive but high-quality, Holoscreen Suit since I’ve been playing these games for years.

I was part of a club at school that competed as a team against other teams in some of these multiplayer Holoscreen-Immersive-Games or “Live-Action Games”. We would play with other teams online as our avatars, whom we could alter to look any way we wanted over the internet, and play with them in challenges as if they were really there with us. My avatar I usually chose to represent me looked similar to Asher, but if he was a girl. My avatar’s outfits were designed with a steampunk genre with dark-colored, victorian-era hats and coats accented with brass and worn-golden gears and lenses. My choice of weapon being a long golden staff my height, with a spinning mobile of concentric spheres and arcs on the top and a handle of worn leather. I used it to manipulate my surroundings depending on what I could do based on what game we played. I could sometimes change my staff into a sword or a key or even metallic steampunk wings if the game allowed. 

Others in my group had avatars of skeleton knights, nature-inspired robed wizards, famous anime characters, or had bioluminescent aerodynamic outfits like they were from Tron. Overall, my team was the most talented and skilled from Mars, even compared to the other groups from the other Terradomes. Of course we each had years of experience and required those on our team to have that kind of experience. We often joined in online competitions to win some prize money to afford paying for the team’s equipment and training as well as some fun field-trips every now and then. We also won enough prize money years ago, before I was even a part of the team, to build a small, but working, Holoscreen Room at the school for our team’s use.

Anyways, as I arrived at the Media Building, I had already brought along my Holoscreen Suit and extra gear in a duffel bag. I entered a very modern-themed, tall-ceiling, clean white-tiled lobby lit with natural light from the three-storied windows of the entrance. I looked over at the bagel-shaped black marble desk with the politely smiling lady who looked briefly looked over at me and nodded as I made my ways to the elevators. Each floors of the building held a stadium-sized Holoscreen room for gameplay or other forms of interactive media. There was about 36 floors, a few located in the basements, most floors were open to the public and were rented out, but some floors were reserved to gameplay teams like mine, or businesses who used them for varied reasons, sometimes just gameplay. Groups from all over Mars went to the same Media building, because they were rather expensive to build, but this one Media building was able to get subsidies and loans from the public in order to be built, and it ended up being one of the biggest Media buildings there ever was. I suppose we were pretty lucky.

I took the elevator to floor 24, and entered a small room with a thick metal door with a touchscreen keypad and a scanner. I put in my security credentials and opened the door to enter the small locker room that had double doors on the other end of the room that opened into the stadium-sized holoscreen. The locker room was lined with one-side being neon green lockers and the other side ice-blue lockers. Each color for two teams. The two bathrooms with showers had doors to either side of the room. A whiteboard along the wall to the left side of me had written gameplay schedules and names of the two different teams that used this Level, a middle-school group called “The Ice Dragons” and my high-school group, “The Neon Ignition”. However, we often just call ourselves “The Neons”. 

Nobody was in the locker rooms but there was some stuff left around by one of the opened green lockers, maybe someone was in the showers after doing some training. The wall to the right of me was piled with different shaped black foam or wooden objects with neon-green grid patterns so the computer could apply holoscreen images to them. Boxes and swords and staffs and extra armor pieces was left in a disorganized pile for shared use. I had brought my own suit, armor and weapon equipment, but I liked to often borrow the varying shaped boxes. 

I quickly tightened on the last of the straps on my suit and armor, put the foam daggers and guns in their holsters, and lastly snatched my long staff before heading into the Holoscreen Room.

The huge, opened holoscreen room was tall, cavernous and rectangular, extending far back from where I stood. Just like the neon-green grid patterned equipment the entire room, except for the ceiling, was lined with hard, thick and black foam with the same neon-green pattern that glowed in the dark when the lights were off. The ceiling was a plethora of neon-green ropes and cables of varying lengths and widths. The tips of each were clamps and “Connectors” used to make real solid objects, like us, appear to take flight during gameplay. They appeared invisible during the holoscreen projection, which just made it weird if you could feel them but not see them if you accidentally touched them.

“Computer, setup ‘Basic Training Gameplay for The Neons, Challenge Twelve’.” I enunciated loudly to the cavernous, echoing room. The holoscreen images around me started to blur into existence and I pulled my Visual-Adjuster Glasses on to focus and enhance the images around me. The room appeared around me was nighttime at the side of a snow-capped mountain, with me at the top and peering over the clouded horizon. The temperature around me gradually got colder and sharper to enhance the illusion that I was really there.

The surface I stood on, appeared to be flat, rough stone. I took a moment to say “Computer, Project Mirror” and a mirror showing what I looked like as my avatar appeared before me, the reflection hovering stationary as I quickly adjusted my armor and my hair to appear how I normally looked as my avatar. How I similarly looked like Asher. It was a bit strange to look up a little at my reflection because my avatar was a bit taller than me. My avatar also looked slightly up as well, since she copied my movements.

“Computer, Remove Mirror.” I said. And it faded away. I glided my thumb along the surface of my staff, which now appeared as a golden piece of artistic awe instead of a painted hollow metal rod like it actually was.

I looked beyond me and the stone path led me around a narrow path along the edge of the mountain. Straggly gray-green needled brush and trees bordered my right side as they tightly hung to the surface of a steep incline. As I walked around the corner of that path, the stone path opened to a large flat surface in front of a huge entrance of a cave. The huge cave was terrifying enough by its size and the stalactites and stalagmites lining the entrance like teeth to a gaping beast, but the glowing and fading red of flames illuminating from its depths and the billowing black smoke, that I could smell, seeped from the ceiling. That was what made it look the most formidable.

A familiar growling like thunder vibrated me to my bones and a dark shadow of great size came to move to the entrance, its eyes glowing through the black smoke, through the teeth that gated its lair. Its eyes glowed fiercely red and yellow, shifting like flames, captivating and terrifying beyond words as it stared at me.

The beast was a centuries-old dragon by the name of Kalamkiarama meaning in its language, most simply put, as “Red Shadow”. It had crimson scales that have blackened over ages of soot and ash from his dragon fire he breathed. He had a terrifying presence, but he was a teacher for this program’s training exercise. I knew him to be a kind dragon, unlike most from the game it was from. The game was called “Black Flame”, well known for its D&D-inspired teamplay challenges.

His echoing voice came from everywhere, his jaw unmoving, as he addressed me by my avatar’s name. Hissing, echoing as if from a thousand mouths of serpents.

“Phoenix,”

I gripped my staff as my muscles suddenly tightened and my head swam to keep afloat of the sudden failing of consciousness. The smoke the shadowy beast I looked upon continued to help darken my sight. And then I couldn’t keep afloat anymore.


	5. Questions by the Lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phoenix [Asher/Ava] finally gets to read that note...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I got to have Phoenix meet someone from the Timeless!! I also figured out how to explain the whole time travel thing. I'm pretty settled on the ideas of alternate timelines thanks to some helpful inspiration from a recently read book about alternate dimensions. How I'm going to explain how the Timeless get involved in both of Phoenix's alternate timelines is going to be tricky to explain though. I was sure that both Phoenix's timelines in both the past and the future was going to cause a lot of paradoxes unless I eliminated that aspect by explaining that time travel is only possible with the causation of one timeline for Asher and a different timeline, one that's unaccounted for Asher's existence at all, for Ava. Perhaps It would make more sense if the Timeless, who also each have separate timelines, are a part of the same alternate timelines that Phoenix is a part of.  
> Anyways, I'm sorry if this doesn't make any sense, but I'll try to explain this time travel theory when I write about it later in my story.

Chapter 5 - Questions by the Lake  
Asher Currant

I was awake, however the sudden surge of fatigue and exhaustion knocked me off balance as I quickly shook my head to focus. I excitedly brought the letter I was holding up to my nose to read in the dim moonlit room. Finally, I’ll be able to get my worries over with as to who the heck sent me this letter at midnight.

The floral printed name Ava was scrawled on the front of the folded letter. Opening, it simply read;

“Rose Lake - Tuesday at Five” along with a simple symbol of a clock-face without the numbers that was located in the bottom-right corner.

The letter was on thick paper, written in metallic silver ink, and had only a few small words that demanded I go to a place I have never mentioned to anyone as Asher. Surely it didn’t mean The Rose Lake of the Sahara Terradome? This didn’t make any sense? I know I never had mentioned that Rose Lake to anyone because I never had any reason to. Whoever sent it must have meant a place that was called Rose Lake that was located around here, maybe not here in the county of Emerald Vale or even in the entire country of America, but there must be another lake with that name, however small to the point where it might be called “pond”.

Thinking of maps and locations, I had remembered that some of the numerous books that I had lying around either on the shelves or the stacks by my couch. And so I began to pull off books and glancing quickly at the covers and bindings to look for anything with “Atlas” or “Emerald Vale Records”. Sure enough I found a few, but they were so faded or in too small of print to read or very useless after I had looked through them.

However, I had a book of “Places of Emerald Vale” that had records of some of the noteworthy landmarks and buildings in the town. And to my surprise, there was an old ruins of a brick scholar’s building located on the edge of the town, in the middle of nowhere, with the title of “School of Rose Lake”. Apparently there was a short written history of the place in the book that explained that “The School was built in the mid-1700s along the side of a single hill that bordered the small Rose Lake, that later dried up due to a devastating drought during the school’s remaining years. The School was privately-run by a group of various invited individuals of different backgrounds, ages and genders. It was a boarding school that took in very few people from hundreds of miles around and some students and scholars were known to have spent most of their life there. However, since no outsiders were allowed into the building and it was rare that the scholars were seen outside, little was known about them.  
Perhaps the strangest mystery of this school’s past was its controversial demise, in which a riot had ended up torching the building because they believed that the mysterious school was doing ‘unholy rituals’ that the students and scholars were actually partaking in. The fire burned down the wooden structure on the inside of the building, causing its collapse, which ended up killing seven people who were inside at the time. Due to the drought, the fire had continued for two days, burning everything and everyone within beyond recognition. It is unknown whether any of the students or scholars of that school had survived that night and it remains a mystery as to what was really going on within the school’s walls.”

I finished reading the passage, having to squint and focus with each word in the soft, fading moonlight. So the School of Rose Lake? I figured its’ remote location was the reason that whoever wished to meet me chose that old place. I barely remembered it from one of my horse rides as a kid. 

How the young kids of the town used to dare each other to enter the “haunted” remnants of that school, which remained only as collapsed brick walls, rotted wood and rubble. I remember once being dared into that place, but I only remembered it being very gray and very cold as well as very damp. But I did remember finding a broken glass shard among the rubble while I was there, and I came running back to the rest of the kids with my prize. Unfortunately I had cut my hand gripping the sharp piece and the other kids convinced me it was because the haunted place had cursed me. I was miserable the rest of that summer thinking that every unfortunate case of bad luck was because I was cursed, and so I eventually returned the shard back to the “haunted” rubble it came from and my ten-year-old self was convinced I had gotten rid of the curse after that. I realize now, looking back on that summer, how ridiculous that little piece of glass that had caused me to be so upset was. But I still had an unpleasant feeling about that school building because of my childhood experience. Thinking about going to that place, made me want to forget about it all again. Why should I have to go there anyways? To meet a stranger that had broke into my house?

But then, I would always end up wondering, “Why?”, and that curiosity would probably always be with me. And my curiosity tended to be really annoying.

“So Tuesday, huh?” I muttered out loud. That would end up being…what day was today? I mentally remembered that Ava’s timeline seemed to always be about two days ahead of whatever day Asher was in, and she was currently in thursday, meaning today, here as Asher, was Tuesday. Today?

Not really sure whether I should start getting ready to go or not, I sat on the each of the couch, mentally and physically exhausted as I contemplated my dilemma. I slowly got dressed, trying to keep myself busy thinking about what I could do that day other than to go to a haunted school. It was in the middle of summer for me, while Ava was currently enjoying the school year during a rather warm January on Mars. I didn’t have much in the ways of studies, and I’ve been keeping myself above boredom doing various, yet repetitive, hobbies and chores for three months already. And so my inner consciousness seemed to suggest, “Hey, what the heck? Let’s go see what some anonymous weirdo wants to talk about after breaking into you house, in the middle of the night, to seemingly not take anything but leave a note on the couch that you were just sleeping in? Oh and to meet at an old abandoned, haunted ‘witch-house’! I don’t know what to call it, but yeah let’s do that! Maybe I could get some more answers instead of questions for once in my life.”

I quickly packed some warm blankets and some bread in my saddlebag before quickly adjusting my riding gear I wore. I left a note saying I went for some early-morning riding with my horse, Pepper. Heading outside just as the sunrise lit the clouded sky, I fastened the buttons on my overcoat as walked along the muddy grass downhill to get to the stables.

Pepper was alert in the mornings, she was always an early riser, she whinnied as I greeted her at her door. She was an older Arabian with a flea-bitten-patterned coat for which we gave her the name “Pepper” for. I haven’t had a chance to ride her in a while since she was busy taking care of her newborn filly Mint, but Mint was getting pretty independent by now, I suppose I could borrow Pepper to ride for the morning.

The ride to the other side of the town and farther out after that took all morning until I finally reached the main town. Emerald Vale was spread out, scattered buildings of various sizes of long wooden cabins to expansive red-brick, two-stories. The town was neither big nor small, and it was close enough to the big city that there were many visitors passing through, but far enough from anywhere else that the surroundings were just rolling green hills and golden valleys. 

We rode into the middle of the town and I tied up Pepper by the water trough to go the shady indoors of a local pub to see if I could order something for lunch. They didn’t offer many options in the ways of food because it wasn’t dinner yet, their busiest hours, and so I ordered some beans and took some bread and drink with me for the rest of my journey. 

I was putting the food in my saddlebag and then vertigo and a nauseating feeling, worsened by the heat of the day, made me nearly pass out as I stumbled over to steady myself on the outside wall of the pub. I never liked Jumping while I was sick or faint from heat exhaustion, it nearly made me lose my lunch before the overwhelming nauseation was suddenly gone as well as my consciousness.

 

Ava Bay

Coughing and shaking my head, my vision suddenly sharpened with an intense light from the holograms and my visual screen I looked through.

“Who was I? What am I doing?” I repeated my habit. And the dragon I suddenly remembered was there ahead of me seemed to think my question was addressed to him, replying with, “I do not understand the meaning of your question young warrior, for what you came for is to seek my advice, is it not?” he breathed out with hissing, huge eyes unblinking and glowing faintly onto the smoke that slowly curled, rising to the rhythm of his relaxed breathing.

The bright colors of the hologram as well as the sudden, intense focus to all the small details around me, like I had just put on some strong eyeglasses, gave me a bit of a headache before I could adjust my vision controls. It took a little getting used to the feeling of wearing all the holotech gear each time this happened. 

“I seek your wisdom, ancient one, as I continue on my quest to acquire the Crowns of Crystal, before the corruptive ones who plan to use their powers to rule with tyranny, find them. I wish to know where they are to be found.” I announced with the best old-english accent I could think of. It sounded pretty terrible, I wasn’t any good with impressions, but the whole accent thing was supposed to help me get into character.

The dragon seemed to pause a few seconds, as if to ascertain that I was done speaking, before replying, “If I’m not mistaken, you have already acquired the Crowns of Crystal. Do you wish to repeat the quest?”

Oh right, I did that quest last week, now what? I didn’t really feel like redoing the quest again and so I answered, “ I don’t want to repeat the quest.” I thought for a moment. It would be nice to refresh up on some hand-to-hand combat skills before I met with that stranger as Asher.

“I wish to train with hand-to-hand combat.” I announced, and Kalamkiarama blinked slowly, “Enemy of choice?” he asked. I replied quickly, “Human, and no weapons allowed.”

Two virtual buff samurai warriors suddenly appeared before me in leather armor. They stood with what I assumed was an “Epic Warrior Pose”, the warrior of the right was a man with a defiant expression that conveyed he was ready to battle, the warrior on the left was a woman with a focused, cold-hearted expression that read as calculating and clever. Both of their long hair dramatically enhanced their epic poses as they strongly blew in the non-existing high winds of the mountain. I randomly selected the man as my opponent, the woman disappeared.

My opponent and I respectively bowed and readied ourselves with kung fu stances. He jumped towards me first and rapidly swung his right leg with a roundhouse kick. I jumped backwards and quickly forwards to scissorhand jab under his right arm, causing him to instinctively lower his right arm as I hammerfisted his shoulder. I realized I had left my right side defenseless as he used my momentum to pull me forward as he knee-kicked my side. Infuriated, though not hurt because he was only a virtual hologram, I quickly turned around to my left and did a back kick in the chest to push him backwards before I did a jumping front-kick to hit his jaw. The match went on before I did a time-out signal to catch my breath. Neither of us could actually win in a practice because my opponent was virtual and seemingly immortal and I couldn’t actually be really hurt because his programming wouldn’t allow it, even at my insistence. The punches and kicks felt like strong taps that my halotech suit simulated for me to feel. We would just continue before I got exhausted or I wanted to do something else. 

I caught my breath and the match went back on, for a few more rounds with breaks for me in between. Eventually I felt to tired to move my sore limbs and my adrenaline had finally worn off. I saved the program for me to continue at another time and I turned off the room and exited to the locker room to wash up. I was glad I got some practice before I met with that anonymous stranger, it gave me some confidence I otherwise didn’t have before.

Putting my gear away in my neon-green locker, I quickly checked my wrist, but realized that without my Onesuit I couldn't project a holoscreen over my arm. I needed to know the the time. It was a compulsive habit that I had to do. If I didn't, I felt uncomfortable, like the feeling of being stranded in the woods without any communication to civilization. 

Looking around the room, I raised my voice to ask the room’s computer to tell me the time. And a melodic auto-tuned voice answered “ The current time is 4:36 standard.” 

Five O’clock, the letter said it was then. I knew that whoever sent it must've meant that Rose Lake school back in Asher’s time. However, thinking about The Rose Lake again brought back some fond memories and I figured I had some time to see another red sunset reflecting on the mirrored surface of a pink lake before I had to return home.

And so I headed there.

The sky was already beginning to turn into a dusky purple by this time. Even though the entire Terradome was transparent, it could project light shows and fake fireworks across its surface for various celebrations like holidays. But the dusky purple turning towards rosy pink into red was the real sun’s light reflecting into our little bubble of atmosphere.

High above, gliding through the warm breeze on Bluebell, I began to land by the banks of the glowing pink lake. It was almost dark, however, I didn't plan to take long. 

I got off my bike, it bobbed a little bit like a balloon before it stilled a few inches above the steep, pine-needle covered dirt. The dusky light and overshadowing trees made it hard to see. The silence loudly broken by the soft lapping of the shallow waves and the far-off bustling of the city. 

The red sun, slowly descended, my gaze causing it to seem still. I watched the mirrored reflection of the dim sun. And willed myself to just be in the moment. 

It finally left, foggy purple light all that was there, and I finally remembered to breath some sound into the silence. The air was warm with the scent of pine.

It was during this nice, relaxing moment that my heart suddenly leapt into my throat. A sound of casual footsteps that approached the lake from a few yards away. I instinctively turned, and calmed down. I couldn't see anyone, it was dark. And so I calmly narrowed my gaze and there was a person there, casually staring out to the sunset. 

I knew it was impolite to talk during that nice quiet moment, but I did so anyways while regretting it immediately.

“Hello, nice sunset huh?” my voice carried out long and low.

She turned towards me, a middle-aged woman with dark wavy hair in a side-ponytail. She looked pretty, especially with her bright expression that she practically glowed with. She seemed very excited all of the sudden when she realized someone else was here with her.

“It has set into a long night, but it will rise from its’ red ashes like the phoenix, and day will come again tomorrow.” She sang with a cadence like it was a repetitive tune, chuckling softly as though there was a hidden joke or memory that she admired behind it. 

“That's very beautiful.” I smiled. “ Do you often come to see the sunset here?” I casually asked.

She smiled embarrassingly, looked away from me, stretched out her arms to her side and returned to look my way. “ My friend and I were supposed to meet someone here. It's very confusing, my friend’s not here yet, always forgetful, always late. Yet I don't really know who we’re supposed to meet.”

She shifted her weight uncomfortably. “Are you supposed to meet someone here?” She asked, curiously looking at me, intrigued.

I paused. I didn't think it was here I was supposed to meet someone. She asked before I could reply, “ My friend tried to explain to me that this was supposed to be an ‘Explanation’ meeting for this somebody about our group. I can't recall the name, somebody named Ash or Ashley or something.” She rubbed her hands quickly and sighed.

“Asher?” I barely murmured as a suggestion. She looked up at me, “ I'm sorry I didn't hear you.”

“ What was the last name? I might know them if they live near here.” I suggested.

“Oh, um… It was uh… Currant I think? Oh right, Asher!” She snapped her fingers with delight. “Do you know someone named Asher? I wished my friend explained to me if this was the right name to use, I always get timelines confused.” She quickly rambled on for a moment, not yet noticing my baffled expression, “ Sorry, was rambling a bit there. Do you know an Asher or anybody with that last name Currant?”

I took a breath, how do I respond to this? And so I decided to nod, unsure. 

“Oh great! I don't suppose he showed up though. That's a bummer… Wait.” She got very quiet at the end. In sudden, serious interest she looked into my eyes, really taking notice of my unspokenness, finally.

There was a long pause, my brain had shut down, I didn't know what to think or how to act in that moment. After what seemed like millennia, she softly spoke “Asher?” 

She seemed to really care, to really be astonished by me, as I stared in awe of her. I blinked, realizing unconcernedly that my eyes burned with oncoming tears. 

I finally thought, “ How could she know me? As Asher”. I sniffed as my nose began to feel stuffy, my wet eyes, my sudden weakness in my bones, from the overwhelming surge of emotion. 

I stepped back, “ I don't know someone here by that name.” I replied before she immediately asked “ What about you?” She stared at me as if she really knew something I didn't know, understood something that would soon become clear to me.

“I'm Ava, my name isn't Asher.” I shook my head, taking another step back, I rubbed my eyes and breathed deeply. “ I don't go by that name here.” I barely choked out without much thought.

“ Ava, please wait! I don't mean to alarm you. Just let me explain!” She raised her voice pleadingly. I had turned around but stilled. I tried to, rather terribly, disguise my cough as a casual laugh. I rubbed my eyes again, swinging around to face her . “ Please…” I mouthed, barely able to speak. I didn't know her. I was terrified. I had been stalked by that black car, I had my house broken into, I felt like I was so lost. Who could I have spoken to about this? I didn't even believe myself.

“ You have two lives, right? One in the past and one in the future?” She paused, implying me to respond. I couldn't. 

“So do I. So do my friends. We are like you.” She looked into my eyes, pleading understanding. “ We can help explain. Do you think it's okay to talk right now?” 

I swallowed and took some deep breaths, I felt unwell, my head hurt.

“ Who are you?” I asked, my vision more unclear in the dimming light. I tried to focus on her. But then my balance wavered and as I tried to steady myself, I felt numb as I collapsed. My eyes darkening. I felt so tired and numb and thoughtless. I heard her gasp as I fell. 

I didn't Jump to Asher right then, I fainted. And it was a long while as I slept.

And the dreams were unclear and intangible, I couldn't grasp any meaning or think any reason for what felt like eternity.

I found out later that I slept through a few days as both Ava and Asher.


	6. Fever and Circumstance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phoenix is beginning to be finally introduced to Red, an experienced member of the Timeless, who wishes to explain to Phoenix why he experiences two lives. Scene begins with Asher waking up in a unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar building. [which is explained to be a safe house for inter-dimensional travelers who are a part of the Timeless]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyways, there's a lot to be explained in the later chapters about this group called the Timeless, including multi-dimensional theory and how it relates to Phoenix's circumstance, who the Timeless are, what they do in terms of being able to "Cross" into different alter-dimensions, how the whole "Crossing" into alternate dimensions works, how being two different people happens, and what some of the different dimensions have. [Like some are very similar to Phoenix's dimension, while others are more advanced in science and tech, have magical forces, have a totally different history of evolution, sense of reality, or laws of physics.] Overall, I have a lot of ideas I hope would make it into this story. But for now readers, just read what I have so far and give helpful ideas and criticism. If none of this multi-dimensional stuff makes sense, sorry about that, but feel free to ask questions.

Chapter 6 - Fever and Circumstance  
Asher 

Everything was dry and drowsy. My head throbbed for a while as I tried to keep myself still to avoid more pain. I had my eyes closed, but even then I seemed to sense that wherever I was was dark. The smell of musk and smoke seemed to keep me in a comfortable state of drowsiness. And all I heard was faint scuffles and footsteps as if they were far away.

Time passed slowly and I grew bored of my rambling thoughts as I longed to know where I was. Suddenly startled by this thought, I shot straight up in my bed, my head hurt with the sudden motion. Wincing, I looked around utterly perplexed.

I was in a rustic, small room with a bed and a nightstand. The room was hardly lit by the small oil lamp on the nightstand.

I threw the covers off, the blankets, along with the thick woolen clothes that were still on me, felt like an oven. All I felt like doing in that moment was staying where I was.

Looking around the musty, dark room after a while, I cleared my mind, held my head to control the throbbing pain that I was trying to alleviate. After, I tried to discern my surroundings and my predicament more clearly. I tapped my dry tongue against the roof of my mouth. A simple, loud thought finally came to me.

“Water.”

There was nothing around in the barren, small room of wood until I caught the faint glint of a whiskey bottle shattered at the edge of the bed. I realized that the room, barren as it was of any clothes and supplies, was probably for rent. But I didn’t remember coming here.

I tiredly leaned over the edge of my bed again to stare at the shattered bottle with perplexing thoughts. 

“I don’t drink.” My throbbing head told me. “I’m probably just dehydrated from this heat.” I stared some more. I knew I was missing something important, something I needed to know before my adrenaline went away and I collapsed again. The apprehensive feeling of heaviness in my chest wouldn't go away.

A feverish cold caused me to shudder. The cold sweat on my arms caused me to throw on the scratchy blanket again. And then I felt like an mummified corpse buried beneath the burning, dry sand in a dark tomb. My head hurt too much to think, but I felt uncomfortable with my situation.

Silent tears seemed to lessen the sudden anxiety. I just had to let my emotions all out, it was better to get it over with.

I remembered the girl.   
I remembered the sudden surge of terrifying intense baffled emotion.  
How everything of about her suddenly caused me to fall…  
I couldn't control my sudden torrential, beating feelings that came out of nowhere.  
I couldn't understand why I also, suddenly felt feverish and so beyond my normal light-headedness.

But why? What was happening to my usual calm composure? I felt like I was suddenly stripped raw of the soul and everything within me; my emotions, my thoughts, my sudden light-headedness, came to me at once with a such a burning intensity that I wanted to escape it with such a longing within that one moment.

And I fell into a long, long blackness. The abyss of my mind sheltering me from what I refused to to think about, to feel about.

What were we talking about?

And the memory came back to me, rosy from that sunset, blurry in the glow of the diminishing light. She knew who I was. And for some reason, I had the sense that she really knew me. Something about me that I didn't know, but somehow always longed to.

And my longing returned. I had to get back to her. I needed to know, because she suddenly made me feel… Normal and yet important, extraordinary. I needed to know for the sake of the unattained desire and questioning about myself, the wonder if I was actually special or insane, if my ability meant something. Or had I lost myself within my own mind by creating a reality of myself being two people in order to fulfill something within me?

I frankly didn't care anymore. I needed to stop thinking mountainous thoughts that always weighed me down.

“Just do something.” My thoughts tiredly demanded.

And I finally forced myself to stand on my painfully stiff legs and numb feet. My throbbing head threw all of my balance to my right as I quickly grabbed the edge of my bed and waited for my vision to clear up again.

Once that was through, walking around a bit to the other side of the room made me realize, I really had to use the restroom. Thankfully, the small room had a door leading to one.

My shoes were especially hard to find. And eventually I was so frustrated I assumed that perhaps whoever put me in here “had the kind courtesy to let me stay” but decided my favorite leather riding boots was good payment for the room.

I wasn't sure what I was going to face when I got outside of my room, but I felt feverish in the sweltering heat of the building and ridiculous without shoes. Opening the door, my eyes immediately noticed that my boots were right there, polished. And threw them on. And felt an immense relief that I quickly realized was a trivial problem when I really should've been focusing on where the heck I was.

It was a long hallway with branching off doors to other rooms. The doors had rusted hinges and cheap peeling painted numbers. So this probably was a hotel. But this wasn't one I recognized. Being that there was only a few places to rent in Emerald Vale, and I didn't know this one, I wasn't in Emerald Vale, much less anywhere near home now because Emerald Vale was the only closest town.

But wait, I recognized the style of the building. It was similar to something vague in my memory. The musty smell was laced by something floral underneath the overwhelming stench of smoke and damp.

I numbly walked down the hallway towards the glow of firelight and came upon a sparse sitting room with a stone fireplace. Torn, faded and moldy armchairs seems to hover closely to the fire’s mesmerizing embrace.

And there was someone sitting in one of them, facing, angled towards the fire. Seemingly sleeping fine upright on the chair. The light glinting off what I discerned from far away to being strange-looking rose-tinted specs, the dark crimson ominous-looking with the mirrored flickering of the flames.

It was an older man, salt-peppered beard and a faint, strangely curious smile that probably widened into a mischievous smirk when he was conscious.

He seemed familiar and I couldn't have the frankest idea why. But my adrenaline pounding my throbbing brain shouted “Move! Get the hell out of here!”

Unsure what to do, I then I debated whether to walk out silently or wake the stranger.

Tiptoeing “silently” across the deafeningly creaky wooden floor. I stared in terror at the man as I made my way across the room. He didn't move from his strangely upright sleeping position. 

Turning my head to inspect the rusty, old door, My mind raced frantically about how to open it without making a sound with the rusty hinges. Holding my breath, I swung it open in one loud CREAK. 

There was nothing out there but black. The ground outside the door was smooth, and pitch black obsidian. But the firelight didn't help light up what was out there.

My eyes frantically grew wide, and I stuck my head out to look to the side of the house. All there was, was blackness, unpenetrated darkness that hid silent, unmoving nothingness. There wasn't even the side of the house to see, nor touch, as my hand grasped at empty air. All there was, was this doorway I stood on. Like a portal, the doorframe opened up into this unreal dimension.

I was afraid to go out onto the smooth floor to traverse into possibly endless nothingness. And I stepped back. Blinking, narrowing my eyes at the scene before me in complete befuddlement.

“The front door is specifically a gateway to the Either as I believe it is called.” A clear voice behind me shocked me into screeching as I spun around and lost my foot control, causing me to step back onto what I thought was a solid-black floor that ended up being an illusion. My heart lurched into my throat, cutting off my sudden shout, as I fell backwards into the abyss before the man grasped my shirt collar and yanked me inside with a swift arm.

Hyperventilating, I stumbled forward out of reach of the doorway, causing the man to calmly step back as to not alarm me further.

“I'm dreaming.” I gasped. My throat hurt to speak with the fever, dehydration and frantic breathing. And my eyes started to cloud over, but I bit my tongue to stay focused.

“ You have every reason to freak out but, please try to calm down!” The man’s eyes and hands expressed pleadingly to me. 

I shut my eyes and held out my hands for balance as I traipsed over to the moldy couch he was sitting in earlier. Collapsing in it, my eyes lazily wandered and noticed a pitcher of water on the side table. Without bothering to pour it into the dusty glass that was there, I impulsively downed the whole thing without remembering much of what just happened.

I groaned and clutched the empty pitcher to my chest as I curled up into the toasty, warm couch. My stomach protested, my fever coming and going in waves of pain. I couldn't move, yet I felt too terrible to sleep.

My eyes glazed over to the blurry image of the man as he walked over and sat in the chair opposite of me. He was silent at first, a bittersweet smile as he stared into the fire. Finally taking a deep breath, he briefly said, “Sorry about all this. You need not to worry, I mean you no harm. Just explanation.” His voice was smooth as sunbathed, sifting sand yet deeper toned than the icy midnight of an ocean chasm.

We continued to stare into the fire. I suppose I had some questions and he had answers he apparently wanted to tell, yet we both were exhausted and unsure.

My muscles began to finally relax and my eyes were fluttering closed, and then he finally got around to what he been meaning to say since I ended up in this weird… Well I wasn't sure where I was.

“ Jenna-Jay was the woman you were speaking to earlier before you fell unconscious. She wanted me to tell you that she was very sorry about all that. I suppose she was the first other Timeless that you’ve come across. That often happens when you first meet someone, that… Um, has your abilities.” He was talking rather matter-of-factly, but glancing back and forth between the fire and me to discern whether I was listening. I couldn't see his eyes very well behind those deep red, circular specs.

I couldn't understand what he was talking about, and I frankly didn't care, but I didn't want to move and I wanted to focus on something other than my headache and fever.

“Anyways, I suppose I should’ve introduced myself first, rather rude of me, however I'm unsure of which name to be since I have two identities. I'm sure you understand.” He cleared his throat and then looked directly at me. “Just call me Red. Those that really know me do.” 

“Anyways, I suppose I should’ve introduced myself first, rather rude of me, however I'm unsure of which name to be since I have two identities. I'm sure you understand.” He cleared his throat and then looked directly at me. “Just call me Red. Those that really know me do.” 

And he took off the red specs, his eyes were a warm hot fudge, chocolate brown. They were tired now, but there were squinting creases showing how he normally had a cheerful disposition. Yet his bittersweet smile came easy to him, as if he was also very aware of all the bitter things as well as the sweet things. 

And so, I felt no alarm. He was suspicious, yet he didn't appear malignant towards me. I tried to process his words then, and some sense of understanding began to come slowly to me. That nice girl I met at Rose Lake from when I was Ava, her name was Jenna-Jay. Wait… I was Ava when I met her. I needed Red to explain more. He seemed to be waiting calmly for me to express interest in the conversation before he continued. And so I finally responded.

“Explain how I got here, please.” I narrowed my gaze. I really needed to know why he brought me here and where here was. Also, what time is was. I felt stiff all over, like I've been sleeping for years. And then I remembered forgetting something, someone important?

“Alright then. Well, I was supposed to meet you earlier if you showed up at the Rose Lake school, Jenna-Jay was supposed to meet you at the Rose Lake as Ava, which is what happened. Jonathan-Neil was supposed to be with her for her first recruitment mission and apparently didn't show because he ‘lost the directions’.” He looked up, letting out a short scoff of a laugh, mumbling “ Lost the- well he’s still apologizing to her about that even three days later. Oh, okay, well.” He took a breath to think about what he was about to say.

“ You’re a Timeless. That’s what people who have lives in different timelines are called. How you’re able to have a life as Ava as well as Asher is because you’re consciousness is a part of two different people in two different alternate timelines. In a timeline from one dimension, you're consciousness is a part of Ava and in a different timeline in a different dimension you’re Asher. This way, you are both, but this explains why whatever you cause as Asher in the past doesn't cause paradoxes for your futures self as Ava. In Ava’s timeline, Asher never actually existed in the past. And in Asher’s timeline for the future, there maybe an Ava in the future but she wouldn't exactly be you. You’re consciousness isn't her. She’s like a different version of you, similar genes, looks and personality perhaps, but she’s a different person. Do you understand what I'm talking about, with the crazy alternate dimensional theory? I just don't think right now is the best time to explain this actually. I know you have many questions and I’ll try to answer them, but your fever needs to be taken care of.” He suddenly stood up and held out his hand towards me with a kind, encouraging expression. 

“I'll get you some more water. And you needn’t worry about your horse, she’s been returned home. Lovely coat and gentle demeanor.” He nodded his head sharply as he helped pull me up to stand. “Your room is two hundred, the only one with the beds still intact. I'm really sorry that you’re not feeling well, but I promise to explain more as you get better.” He led me to my room, the door, as I now noticed, had a blue painted X on it. I wasn’t sure if I should ask about it.

I suddenly remembered, “My family, they don't know where I'm at do they?” I just looked at him, no response but an uncomfortable side glance “You must've been the one who broken into my house. But all of these things you say… I really hope this is all worth it.” I turned the doorknob. Red cleared his throat, he tiredly avoided my gaze as he looked at the floor. 

“You’re family has gotten a note that you’re being taken to the immediate emergency care of a doctor because you’ve fallen ill. I assured them in my letter that the fever wasn't deadly, but still contagious so they couldn't be allowed to come. I'm sorry. I just wanted to give you guidance, some understanding about all that's happening. It’s been three days since you collapsed in Emerald Vale.”

“I think I understand, however I'm not sure why I do, I just hope you're not actually holding me hostage here.” I stated bluntly. Red let out a nervous short laugh. And I just bit my lip as I stated at him with daggers of intimidation. His eyes focused, pleaded. And I relaxed. “Speaking of Emerald Vale, if I'm not there, where am I?” My hoarse voice barely got out.

He gave a slow mischievous smirk “I have a rare ability, even among the Timeless, I can go into other alternate timelines. A talent we call ‘Crossing’. This old building used to house Timeless travelers for, oh how many years? It also acts sort of like a helpful gateway between the different alternate dimensions. I can create my own gateways easier than others, but it takes years of practice. This place helps as an active portal. The hard part of constructing a portal is already there, set in place many years ago by a more powerful ‘Gatekeeper’. And so just about any Timeless can have the ability to command which dimension the portal goes.” 

“The front door? That was the portal?” I asked. He nodded and explained “Yes. Right now the front door acts as a portal. It's currently linked to the Either as a default setting, since I haven't commanded it to go anywhere yet. The Either is basically like an in-between of our dimensions like the space between the folds of our space-and-time, physical realities. It holds nothing and yet there’s gravity and some sense of atmosphere in this area of the Either, possibly because it's close to a very stable dimension.” He paused for a moment, with a look of concern. “ Anyways, this should help with the fever.” he handed what looked like a stainless steel flask with what appeared to be something in latin engraved on the side. “ Rare stuff, but it works fast. I suggest not taking it before you sleep or you’ll be running with the energy of fifty coffees all night.”

“Hmm,” I just gave a small smile as I accepted the cold-to-the-touch flask. I figured this really was all just a potently hallucinogenic dream and I would wake up eventually. But for the moment, the feverish pain made it feel pretty real. And I wanted to go to bed. So I gave a slight bow before returning to my room to sleep. Red just adjusted his sunglasses and turned around to head towards the sitting room again.

I forced my stiff legs to move to the edge of the bed, pausing to stare at the warm blankets before tipping over and crashing onto it. The bed was older than I thought. I bounced once as it let out a loud creak and twice and then one of the bedposts snapped, leaving the bed leaning at an angle.

Groaning pathetically, I let it go as I began to fall asleep. Thinking thoughts from multidimensional theory to whether Red would have anything for us to eat for breakfast tomorrow.


End file.
